The present invention relates to a fuel tank mounting structure for a scooter, capable of increasing freedom of designing a fuel tank and of facilitating mounting a fuel tank on the body of the scooter.
Generally, the fuel tank of a scooter is disposed under a footboard on which driver""s feet may rest. A fuel tank mounting structure will be described.
Referring to FIG. 6 showing a conventional fuel tank mounting structure in a sectional view, a fuel tank 100 is integrally provided with a flange 101, a plurality of sets each of a cushion rubber member 102 and a collar 103 are incorporated into the flange 101. Stays 105 are attached to right and left footboard support frames 104 (only one of the floorboard support frames is shown) included in a body frame, nuts are welded to the stays 105, and bolts 107 are passed through the collar 103 and screwed in the nuts 106 to fasten the fuel tank 100 to the footboard support frames 104.
When forming the fuel tank 100, for example, by blow-molding a resin parison, a blow mold must be a split mold that can be split along a parting line corresponding to the flange 101 to form the flange 101. Consequently, the fuel tank 100 must be formed by a limited molding method and the degree of freedom of designing the shape of the fuel tank 100 is reduced.
Since the plurality of bolts 107 is necessary for fastening the fuel tank 100 to the stays, an assembling line for assembling scooters for mass production needs many man-hours for fastening many fuel tanks 100 to the stays with he bolts 107.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel tank mounting structure for a scooter, capable of increasing freedom of designing a fuel tank and of facilitating mounting a fuel tank on the body of the scooter.
To achieve the object, according to one aspect of the invention, a fuel tank mounting structure for a scooter has a front frame extended downward from a head pipe, a pair of footboard support frames extended backward from the front frame, a footboard attached to the pair of footboard support frames, and a fuel tank disposed under the footboard, the fuel tank mounting structure comprises fuel tank shelves extended from lower parts of the footboard support frames toward the center of the body of the scooter; wherein the fuel tank is seated on cushions placed on the fuel tank shelves, and is held in place by the footboard.
Since the fuel tank is mounted on the cushions placed on the fuel tank support brackets, and is held in place by the floor board, the degree of freedom of designing the fuel tank is greater than that of designing the conventional fuel tank provided with the flange which is fastened to the footboard support frames with screws, the fuel tank does not need any flange, and any fastening step for fastening the fuel tank to the body of the scooter with screws is not necessary.
The fuel tank mounting structure for a scooter according to another aspect of the invention has the fuel tank shelves extended from lower parts of the footboard support frames toward the center of the body, the fuel tank is seated on the cushion sheets placed on the fuel tank shelves, and the fuel tank is held in place by the footboard. Therefore, the degree of freedom of design of the fuel tank is greater than that of the conventional fuel tank provided with a flange to be fastened to the footboard support frames with screws, the fuel tank does not need any flange, and the procedure for mounting the fuel tank on the body frame does not need any fastening step using screws.
Thus, the fuel tank can be manufactured at a low cost and can be easily mounted on the footboard support frames.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.